Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 9:32

Charles Ellicott Commentary

2 Kings 9:32

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

2 Kings 9:32

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs." — 2 Kings 9:32 (ASV)

Who is on my side? who? This hardly implies, as Thenius thinks, that Jezebel had made preparations for resistance. Jehu knew that the imperious and cruel queen was well hated by the palace officials. The “two or three eunuchs,” who a moment before had crouched in servile dread before Jezebel, would now be eager to curry favour with the regicide and, at the same time, wreak their malice upon their former tyrant.

The repetition in “Who is on my side? who?” accords well with Jehu’s character. The Septuagint has the strange reading, “he saw her, and said, Who are you? Come down with me.” Josephus adopts this, but Thenius clearly shows that it originated in easy corruptions of the present Hebrew text.